Switching Bodies
by Meg Phelps
Summary: A Merlin/Morgana body-swap. Hopefully funny. Sorry about any grammar mistakes. Feel free to call me out on them, but please be constructive. Thanks. :D
1. Chapter 1

Merlin opened his eyes only to discover that the ceiling he was staring at was not his own. He sat up quickly and looked around. He recognized the room he was in and knew he was in trouble.

The room belonged to Morgana.

Glancing around he noticed he was alone. Thinking he could sneak out he climbed out of the bed to find that he was wearing one of Morgana's dresses. He picked up the fabric with his hands, hands that were too small and delicate. A horrible thought crossed his mind and his hands drifted up towards his chest where he encountered a pair of perky breasts.

"Why am I a woman?" He wondered aloud, then recognized the voice that came out. "Wait." He grabbed a mirror from the bedside table and looked into it. "Why am I Morgana?"


	2. Chapter 2

In Merlin's room, Morgana was just waking up to the sound of Gaius shouting his apprentice's name. Morgana smirked to herself. The spell had worked.

"Merlin." Morgana looked up to find Gaius standing in the doorway, a potion bottle in his hands, "Are you going to get up anytime soon? You know how Arthur gets when you're late."

"Of course." She smiled.

Gaius looked at her, creased his brows, then shook his head a little. "Well hurry it up." He said and left closing the door behind him.

Morgana inhaled deeply and let it out. She needed to be more careful; she needed to act more like Merlin would. Well, that shouldn't be too hard. All she had to do was loosen her limbs and grumble a lot. She shook out her arms, no, Merlin's arms to loosen them up and got out of bed.

Time to get dressed, she thought and made her way over to his trunk. Inside were four plain shirts. Red, blue, purple, and grey. How dull, she thought, but picked out the red one. It was the one she saw him wear most. She slipped it on, then chose one of his blue scarves. He had two of those. She struggled putting it on, then abandoned it. It wouldn't hurt to not wear it. Next came the brown coat. The fabric of the shirt got bundled up in the coat and she had to take it off and try it again, but the same thing happened. She abandoned that too. It was summer. The weather should be warm enough without them. Now for the pants. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She just wouldn't look. Yeah, wouldn't look. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen anything of the like before, but it was still awkward seeing the one of your ex-friend, now enemy. So, she changed her pants without looking, somehow managing not to fall over.

The socks and shoes were all that were left, and she managed those with ease. Satisfied with herself she exited the room only to find Gaius standing there.

"I thought you had gone back to sleep." He said. "What took you so long?"

"I had gone back to sleep." She said. "But I woke up again and here I am." She smiled weakly.

"Yes you are." He muttered. "Better get a move on. Can't keep Arthur waiting."

"Of course." She said and left.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, okay." Merlin said, "Everything is going to be fine." He raised his arms, or rather, raised Morgana's arms, "No, it's not. I'm in Morgana's body, in Morgana's hut, in the middle of nowhere and now I have to pee. Great."

He walked to the door, tripping over the dress only once, and peered out making sure no one was out there. Seeing nobody he stepped out and walked behind a tree, made to lift the dress, then shivered. "I can't do it. I can't." But he really needed to pee. He closed his eyes and squatted, "This is so wrong."

Once he finished he went back into the hut to think of a plan to get to Arthur and somehow convince him that he was Merlin and not Morgana. It certainly was a better plan than sitting around and freaking out that he was in a different body. Her body was strange compared to his. Not only because he was now housed in a woman's body, but the muscles and the mechanics were different. Okay, maybe it was because he was in a woman's body. There was an extra weight in the front and he had hips, actual hips, and he had flesh instead of being just skin and bones. Plus, there was a lot of hair, he wasn't used to that.

He started pacing, trying to think, but he kept tripping on the gown. "Agh!" He screamed, "How do women wear these things?" He had to get this body into something else. He looked around and smiled when he saw a trunk.

He opened it only to find more dresses, all of them just as long. He sighed, it figured. Luck was not his strong suit when it came to trivial matters. Sighing again, he searched through the trunk to pick a dress that was simpler and easier to move in. He finally decided on a peasant dress, surprised to see it at all, that was lying at the bottom. Finally smiling, he then realized he had to get dress. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen a woman's body before, he helped Gaius out with all of his physician duties, which often included examining females, so that wasn't the problem. The problem was that it was someone he knew, someone he was sure to see again, and if he saw the body naked, then that would be all he would think about the next time.

So, he closed his eyes and tried the best he could to not think about it. He was just dressing a body; it was like getting dressed himself, except now he had boobs. Now he was thinking about her boobs. Breasts. That's the proper way to think of them. They were called breasts. Actually, he wasn't supposed to think of them at all. It was rude. But the knights talked about them all the time, often asking him what he thought of them, all of them with smirks on their faces that grew into smiles and developed into laughter when he would blush. Arthur would often save him by saying he had no time for such activities when he was so busy polishing his armor, then he would tell him to do just that. But back to the matter at hand. He finally laced up the dress and left the hut, making sure there was nobody outside before he stepped out.

He had barely gone a few steps when a man stepped out from behind a tree smirking and holding a sword lazily at his side. "Hello pretty lady." He said.

"He-hello." Merlin said, cursing himself internally for not listening hard enough when he had poked his head out the first time. "It's a nice day, isn't it?"

The man's smirk grew and he hitched up his eyebrows, "I'll say."

Merlin laughed nervously. "Yeah."

"Say, are you alone?"

"Kuh. No. Of course not. What makes you ask that?" He tilted his head to the side and tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Well," said the man as he stepped forward, "I think you are."

"You _think_? Well, there's a surprise." The look on the man's face made him add, "That's not what I meant."

"It isn't?"

"No." Merlin struggled for an answer, "Look, a Wildren."

The man just stared. "Do I look like that much of an idiot?"

"Yes." Merlin darted away.

"Hey!" The man cried and ran towards him.

Merlin glanced behind him only to find that the man was gaining; Morgana's body wasn't very fast. He tried to put on a bit of speed, but it didn't work, the man was just too quick. Panting heavily, Merlin turned suddenly and stretched his hand towards the man, "Forþ fleoge!"


	4. Chapter 4

Morgana knocked on the door to Arthur's chambers. "Enter." Arthur called from within and looked up as she entered. "Finally, Merlin, I thought you had gotten lost."

Morgana stood in the doorway. "Merlin." Arthur started, "What are you doing?"

"Waiting, sire."

"For what?"

"Your orders."

Arthur looked around, "Um. Are you okay?"

"Yes, sire. I'm fine." She smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Okay." Arthur said, drawing the word out. "You can get me something for breakfast."

"Yes, sire." She said and curtsied.

"Merlin, did you just curtsey?"

Morgana's mind raced trying to think of an excuse. "It's the new fashion, sire, men and women curtsey now, but do you really want to talk about this? I thought you were hungry."

"Yes." Arthur eyed his manservant suspiciously. "I am."

"Then I shall go and get your meal, shall I?" She turned and left, taking a deep breath as she made her way to the kitchens.

She needed to act more like Merlin. How did Merlin act? She stopped and rearranged his body into a more slouching position and walked heavily towards the kitchen. That was more like it.

Once in the kitchens she made Arthur a plate, putting together food that she remembered getting when she was living in the castle. As she was going back up to Arthur's room she ran into Gwaine who snatched a piece of cheese from the plate. "Slow today, aren't you Merlin?" He chuckled.

"Put it back." She said and stamped her foot. No, that's not how Merlin would act. "Gwaine. You know that's for Arthur."

"Of course, but we both know he doesn't need this much food." Gwaine laughed and bit into the cheese. "How many belts have you had to perfect?" He laughed again and finished off the piece of cheese, "Cheers." He said, snatching the apple of the plate and walked away.

Morgana pursed her lips. That man was all about food. She shook her head and stepped forward bumping into Guinevere and dropping the plate of food.

"Oops," Guinevere said and bent down to help her friend pick up the food he dropped. "Clumsy as usual, eh, Merlin."

"Yeah. Sorry." Morgana said and smiled up at the woman, trying to hide the hatred she felt towards her.

"I guess you have to get another plate for Arthur, huh?"

"I guess." She said straightening, holding the plate of dropped food.

"You could just deliver it like this. He would never notice." She giggled.

Morgana smiled and pretended to laugh. Guinevere looked at him, "Are you alright, Merlin?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

She looked at her funny, "You just seem off today."

"I'm not. I swear." Morgana tried to think of something Merlin would say, "I'm fit as a horse."

Guinevere winced, and Morgana assumed she succeeded in sounding like Merlin. "Okay. Well, you be careful." She said and pat the shoulder of her friend and went on her way.

Morgana watched as she left, and once out of view, allowed her true emotions through. She would end her. She would watch as Guinevere died by the hands of her best friend, not knowing that it was really Morgana. Then, she would watch as Arthur died from the loss of his love and from the betrayal of his only real friend. The kingdom would fall apart and be ripe for the picking and who better to pick it than Morgana?


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin stood over the man who had flown back at his spell. Well, he knew he still could use his magic and he knew it was _his_ magic he had used. There had been the familiar warmth as it welled up within him and blown the man off his feet.

He knelt down and stripped the man of his clothes and weapons, then put on the clothes that were much too big on Morgana's body. He was sure he looked funny, but at least he knew he wouldn't trip anymore with trousers on. The sword was much too big and heavy for Morgana's body, but he kept it anyway; it was better than nothing. He left the man naked except for Morgana's dress draped over his bottom half. If he woke up, he didn't want him to be too embarrassed, even if he deserved it.

Steadying himself, he started towards Camelot, hoping the man didn't have any friends lurking nearby.

While traveling he started to plan his strategy. He shouldn't use his magic on Morgana, she still didn't know he had any, and she would know that it wasn't her own magic that was being used. He could use it getting into Camelot. Everyone would think it was just Morgana. The next step was to find Arthur and convince him that he wasn't Morgana. Yeah, maybe not. He should probably start with Gaius. He was least likely to attack him and he knew Merlin the most, so hopefully he would be able to see his apprentice beneath the skin.

Yeah, that's what he would do. Get Gaius on his side, then see if he had any spells to reverse the effects. Actually, Merlin stopped, Kilgharrah would probably know a spell or something that would give him back his body.

Arching back his head he screamed up to the sky, "O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!"

A few minutes later he heard the pounding of The Great Dragon's wings on the air and watched as the dragon descended and landed before him.

Kilgharrah arched up his brows as he looked down at Merlin, "I heard Merlin call me, but I see Morgana before me. Tell me, warlock, how did this happen?"

"I don't know. I just woke up like this." Merlin scowled up at the dragon who had started laughing, "It really isn't funny, you know."

"I'm sorry, young warlock, but it is." He chuckled, his eyes closed and his body shaking in mirth. Merlin sighed, waiting for the dragon to stop laughing at his predicament. Once the dragon had calmed down he spoke before Merlin could, "I know what you are about to ask, but I'm afraid I cannot help you. All I can give is this. You must defeat Morgana to regain your body, but be warned, do not harm your body, for what you do to it hurts only yourself and not Morgana inside it."

"What does that mean? Do I have to knock her unconscious in my own body?"

"Yes. You could do that."

"What's the other option?"

The dragon smiled, "You could be rid of her forever if you kill her body, but I already know you won't do that."

"You're right. I can't. Not in cold blood."

"Sometimes you're too honorable, young warlock. That is one of your flaws." He lifted his wings to take off, "Good luck." He said and chuckled one last time before he beat his wings and lifted up into the air.

"Yeah." Merlin cried after him, "Thanks a lot." He sighed. This was going to be difficult.


	6. Chapter 6

Morgana snuck towards Gwen's room, checking around every corner. She didn't want to run into anyone. It seemed as though Merlin knew everybody in the castle. Several servants had pat her on the shoulder and given her pitying looks as she rushed around on errands for Arthur. All of the knight's stopped her and made jokes, roughly smacking her on the back when she didn't laugh. "It's a joke, Merlin." All of them had said. She just gave them smiles and continued on her way. She didn't care anymore that she wasn't really acting like Merlin. She hated his body and wanted to be done with the deed.

As she stepped around the corner she saw Arthur coming from the other direction. Just her luck.

"Merlin, what are you doing near Gwen's rooms. Shouldn't you be polishing me armor?"

"I already did that. I was just coming to visit Gwen. See how she was doing."

"Why, is she unwell?"

"No. Just as a friend."

"I see. Well, you can come back later, can't you?" Arthur frowned as she hesitated.

"Yes. I suppose I can." She spun around on her heel and walked back the way she came, anger in her eyes.

Soon, she had to do it soon.


	7. Chapter 7

Merlin winced as he knocked out two guards. It looked like it would hurt when they woke up. "Sorry." He whispered as he passed them and continued into the castle and snuck up and down stair and corridors as he made his way to Gaius's rooms.

He only had to hide a few times, when guards came around the corner on their nightly rounds. He finally made it up to the rooms and ducked inside. Quietly he made his way over to Gaius and woke him up gently.

Gaius woke with a start, staring up at Morgana who had her hand on his mouth.

"Gaius, don't freak out. It's me, Merlin." He whispered. "You have to believe me."

Gaius nodded under his hand and Merlin let him go. Gaius peered closer at him, "Merlin?"

"Yes, it's me. I already said that. Now, I need help."

"I knew you were acting funny, but I never thought that it would be Morgana in your body." Gaius continued to peer up at him. "This is weird."

"Yeah, you think it's weird. What about me?"

"Yes, well." He sat up. "What do you need?"

"My body back. Do you have any potions or spells that can reverse this?"

"I don't think so." He stood up, now. "But let me check." Gaius shuffled over to the center table and lit a candle.

Merlin looked towards his door. "Is Morgana sleeping in there?"

Gaius glanced back at the door. "Yes." He shifted his gaze back towards the books on his table and started sifting through them.

Merlin continued to watch the door; he grew more and more worried and anxious. "The dragon said that I should kill Morgana. Her body, I mean." He looked over at his mentor. "Do you think I should?"

Gaius looked up at him, "It's up to you."

"I don't know what to do, Gaius."

Sighing, the old man took off his glasses and looked at Merlin, "Merlin, I cannot tell you what to do; you have to decide on your own." Seeing that the answer isn't good enough he adds, "You have a very difficult decision to make and if I was in your situation I wouldn't know what to do either. Just do what your heart tells you and know that I will support you, whatever you may choose to do."

"Thanks, Gaius." The mentor smiles at his pupil, seeing Merlin that lies beneath the skin of Morgana. He goes back to checking his books and Merlin returns to looking at the door of his room.

Hours later, Merlin is slumped in a chair falling asleep when Gaius makes a small triumphant noise that jerks him awake.

"Merlin, come look, I found the spell." Merlin comes to stand by Gaius's side who runs his finger underneath the words as he reads them aloud, "The body-swapping spell. It says that the person who casts this spell exchanges souls with whatever person they desire to do so with. Ah, that's just the spell, ah, found it. To reverse the effects of the spell the person who cast the enchantment must cast the reversal spell or one of the bodies must be damaged, sending the souls back to their original owners." Both of them stared at the book. "That's it."

"That's it?" Merlin cries, "No, that can't be it. There has to be a spell I can cast."

"No, Merlin, I'm afraid there's not." Gaius puts a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah." A thud from Merlin's room catches both of them off guard.

"Hide!" Gaius whispers and shoves him towards a cupboard.


	8. Chapter 8

Morgana doesn't even speak to Gaius as she heads towards to door to go to Guinevere's room. She tries to ignore the old man as her calls out to her.

"Merlin! Where are you going in such a hurry? Can you help me?"

"No. I can't." She says and rushes out the door before the physician can grab her. She doesn't notice as she turns a corner that Merlin, in her body, is following close behind robed in one of Gaius's old cloaks and hiding the long hair with a silly jester's hat the old physician had found in one of his trunks.

Nobody is in the halls as she hurries towards her goal, but when she makes it, barging into Guinevere's room, she finds that she isn't alone. Standing beside her is Arthur and several knights, all with drawn swords.

It is Arthur who speaks, "Who are you and what have you done with Merlin?"

"I am Merlin."

Arthur raises his sword, "You are not. So, who are you?"

Morgana feels her eye twitch. "You wouldn't hurt this body. You wouldn't hurt your best friend." She says confident as she steps forward, noticing that Arthur looks uncertain. Taking her chance she lunges as Guinevere, but never makes it because something topples her from behind.

She lands heavily on the stone floor and screams in frustration as she blacks out only to find herself back in her own body. Clambering off of Merlin she lunges again at Guinevere, but retreats when she feels a sharp pain on her shoulder as Arthur steps in front of his beloved and lunges at her.

She holds up a hand to aim a spell at him, but notices that she's surrounded. She can't cast an effective spell, it would take too long and require too much concentration. In that time one of the knight's could thrust their sword through her body. Knowing that this battle was lost she shouts quickly, "Forþ fleoge!" Everybody flies back and Morgana is able to flee through the doors and back towards the woods.


	9. Chapter 9

Merlin sets the plate down in front of his king who looks up at him with concern. "Are you sure you're okay, Merlin."

"I'm fine, now." He says and touches the bump on his head gently. "Though, I was scared you were going to stab me."

Arthur smiles a little, "I would never do that, Merlin."

"Good to know."

"But I would tease you about being in a woman's body. What was it like?" He leans back in his chair with a full on smile and watches as his manservant's face turns red.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Yes. I rather think I am." He laughs as Merlin purses his lips. "I'm only joking with you. I'm glad you are safe."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Let's hope it doesn't happen again."

"Yeah?"

"Morgana was a bloody awful servant. The portions were too small." He says and gestures towards the plate in front of him.

Merlin smiles, glad to be back to normal.


	10. Chapter 10

Morgana stumbles into a clearing and sits down on a fallen log. Wincing she undoes the crude bandage she wrapped around her shoulder as soon as she was out of sight of Camelot. Taking deep breaths she calms herself enough to utter an old spell, "þurhhæle licsar min." She watches as a bright light flashes and disappears leaving only a small burn scar. It was crude, but efficient.

Staring at the scar, anger wells up inside her, starting as a small heat in her stomach then burning hotter and hotter until it was boiling and it exploded out of her in a roar. Trees exploded around her and birds escaped to the skies.

Panting heavily she uttered the name of the boy who thwarted her plans again and again, "Merlin."


End file.
